Isaiah 41:19-25 I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

O Tannenbaum, holy one, a bit of all the old faiths, hung with memories of our children’s childhoods, or the popcorn, glitter pine cones, and paper chains of just gathered families beginning new traditions.

Tree for the birds, Madbury Church

Evergreen, because God made it or Target made it, and it’s in the memory loss unit where someone remembers to be lonely, or the airport where a family waits to fly to a funeral, or the White House where no matter what is said or done, criticisms are hung up as freely as tinsel.

O Charlie Brown tree, sad tree – already out on the sidewalk, never picked from the lot, left in the box in the attic or still in the stand in March.

O Nutcracker, magic-growing tree, happy tree — tree of the branches of all the people on earth, shoot of Jesse tree, tree — planted by the streams of water, tree of the field – clapping hands.

Tree of the blended family, of the Children’s Home, of the closed mall, of some very excited children that I know so well …

and tree that’s going to fall in a forest and no one hear it – that Christmas tree that you know because you know them all

2 Responses to December 23 — O antiphon … O Tannenbaum

Thank you for all the wonderful offerings you have shared this year – sharing blessings from around the world. May your Christmas be enriched with responding blessings re-echoing around the world and back to you.